Team Spirit

"Last call for flight 1475 now boarding from gate 21."

Hitomi quickly picked up her suitcase and backpack and made her way for gate 21, she had been tired from her flight from Germany and had fallen asleep on a bench in the waiting hall and had only just awaken to hear the announcement. It was the only flight to her destination, so if she missed it, she would never get to Zack Island. "Zack Island!" Hitomi laughed to herself. "What kind of person buys an island and names it after himself?" Zack was that kind of person, a muay thai-fighting dj who had won the third Dead or Alive martial arts tournament and spent the money prize in Las Vegas and won it big and now he had bought an entire island where he was having the fourth Dead or Alive tournament. Hitomi had participated in the third one to test her karate skills and though she had gotten far she hadn´t won the tournament and after having trained harder she was now ready to give it another shot. Hitomi was in her jeans and denim jacket outfit with a white t-shirt with an eagle imprint and red gloves and a hairband, it was what she almost always seemed to wear, but so what, she liked that outfit. Hitomi made it to the gate and as the woman behind the counter checked her ticket she heard a voice call for her.

"Hitomi!"

Hitomi recognised the voice and couldn´t believe it.

"Lei Fang?"

Hitomi spun around and saw the Chinese girl run towards her, she was wearing a blue white-striped shirt and a white skirt and had her usually braided hair in two ponytails and was carrying a suitcase and a backpack. They both laughed with joy and Lei Fang dropped her suitcase and backpack to run up and give Hitomi a big hug between friends.

"You´re in this tournament too? That´s so great!"

"Of course I am, Lei, I didn´t win last time!"

"Neither did I!" said Lei Fang and then turned frustrated.

"I´ve fought in the last three tournaments and every time I´ve been beaten by Jann Lee. Ooohhh, I want to beat him so bad I can taste it! But this time, this time I will! I´ve trained so hard and if I don´t win this time I´ll…I´lll…do something drastic!"

Hitomi laughed.

"I´m sure you will."

"How about you? Anybody you wanna see again in the tournament?"

"Well, I´d like to meet Ein, I mean, Hayate again, I haven´t seen him since he defeated me in the last tournament."

"Got a crush on him?" Lei Fang asked teasingly.

"I do not! He´s just a good friend, that´s all, and he´s really great at karate, I´d really like him to teach me."

The check-in woman interrupted them as she asked for Lei Fangs ticket. Lei Fang handed it to her and then turned back to Hitomi.

"Do you even know if he´s in the tournament? I mean, last time I heard he was only there to defeat that Genra-thing, and I haven´t heard of any new threats to arise this time round."

"Well, I don´t know if he´ll be there, but I hope so. And even if he isn´t, I´ve come to test my skills, and that´s what I intend to do."

Lei Fang got her ticket back and picked up her suitcase and backpack and grabbed Hitomis arm.

"Well, come on, we´re gonna miss the plane!"

She pulled Hitomi with her and the two girls ran down the hall laughing.

A minute later they were finding their seats in the plane. Lei Fang set her sights on a window seat and pulled Hitomi with her. Once they had put their backpacks under their seats they sat down and made themselves comfortable, Lei Fang sitting in the window seat.

"Ahhhh!" Lei Fang sighed contentedly as she dug herself into the soft, comfy seat. She was only still for a moment though before she looked up and spotted the headphones-plug above her.

"Ooh! Music!" she proclaimed and dove for her backpack and produced a headphoneset, plugged it in and put it on her head. And immediately started singing her lungs out.

"So tell me, baby, do you really want to hurt me, do you really want to make me cry?" she sang, closing her eyes and moving her head in rhytm to the music. Hitomi giggled at Lei Fangs contagious cheerfulness and then turned silent and watched her with a loving expression. Hitomi had first seen Lei Fang at the third tournament and immediately she had felt something she had never felt before. Spotting her in the crowd was like in movies when the hero spotted the heroine and everything turned to slow motion and romantic music started playing, she had thought Lei Fang was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen, she had such an innocent-looking face and eradiated a joy of life that Hitomi found absolutely irresistible and still did, and her smile also hinted at a devilish side that teased and excited Hitomi. This new feeling was a complete surprise to Hitomi, she had never had a boyfriend, but she had always assumed that she was into boys, but simply hadn´t fallen in love with any yet, but when she had seen Lei Fang that day she had realised she was into girls. Or just into Lei Fang. Over the next few days Hitomi had been watching Lei Fang from a distance, admiring her beauty and wishing to be near her, to touch her and be around her all the time. So she was mighty surprised and most pleased when Lei Fang suddenly chatted her up and started hanging around with her. Probably because they were both almost the same age, Hitomi had said to herself, but she didn´t complain. When the tournament ended, to them anyway, with Hitomi having been beaten by Hayate and Lei Fang having lost to Jann Lee, they had said their goodbyes and went home, Hitomi hoping she would forget Lei Fang once she wasn´t around anymore. But that hadn´t been the case, back in her fathers dojo she had continued to think about Lei Fang, often considering writing to her, but with her not knowing what to write without giving away her real feelings she never got that far. So when she had met Lei Fang again at the airport her heart had stopped beating for a moment before screaming with joy, but Hitomi had hidden that reaction, afraid she would scare Lei Fang away if she knew how she really felt about her. So now she just sat next to her on the plane, watching and laughing as Lei Fang headbanged to her music, her ponytails swinging wildly about. She loved Lei Fangs energetic cheerfulness, Hitomi wasn`t shy herself, but next to Lei Fang she was like the spectacled girl in school that always tried to become one with the wallpaper.

"Whazzup???"

And next to Tina Lei Fang was like the dried-up old teacher that never allowed any fun. Hitomi looked back at the recently arrived passenger. Tina Armstrong was walking down the aisle carrying a backpack and loudly greeting everyone on the plane.

"Kasumi! Long time no see! How´s your brother? Ayane! Why aren´t you sitting with your sister? Helena! Love your music!" Tinas friendly gesture hardly connected with the people it was aimed at, Kasumi looked like she had been hit at the mention of her brother, Ayane gave Tina an "Are you insane?" look at her question and Helena made an offensive snort like her music wasn´t for lower class people like Tina. Tina didn´t seem to notice these reactions, or if she did, let herself get affected by them, she just continued down the aisle looking for her seat. She was wearing a pair of long white pants with zebra stripes and a blue top that only just covered her breasts. "I hope she´s wearing a bra under that!" Hitomi thought to herself, but as Tina reached up to put her backpack in the luggage compartment she could clearly see that wasn´t the case. Tina sat down in her seat with a sigh of anticipation.

"I could just kiss the guy whose idea it was to have the tournament on a tropical island! I´m gonna have sooo much fun! I´m gonna kick everybodys asses and then dominate the beach in my new bikini!" Tina let out an impatient sigh while tapping her fingers on the handrests and then leaned out of her seat and shouted in direction of the cockpit.

"Come on, let´s go, we´re wasting time, get the plane off the ground, come on!" Tina sat down again, raising her fist in the air and letting out a cry of joy. Hitomi smiled to herself and shook her head. "Americans!" She looked around to see who else was on the plane. By another window sat Kasumi, she looked saddened as always and was looking out the window, lost in her thoughts. Hitomi barely knew Kasumi, but it hurt her to always see her looking like she was in pain, she was such a sweet and kind person, why did she have to go through whatever it was that hurt her so much? Sitting a good distance away from her was Ayane, Kasumis half-sister as far as Hitomi knew. Ayane had never hidden the fact that she hated her sister and she certainly wasn´t hiding it now, she was casting hateful sideglances at Kasumi and you could almost hear the hateful thoughts that were going through her head as she looked at her sister. Also sitting by herself was Helena, she was reading a book, the title Hitomi couldn´t see, and paid no attention to what was going on around her. Helena had always been a little toffee-nosed, she came from a wealthy family and it wasn´t in her nature to mingle with the so-called "lower class". Hitomi had only met her in the last tournament and had gotten the impression that she didn´t care about the tournament, like she was only there for a reason Hitomi didn´t know about. Just then another passenger arrived, "Christie the ice queen" as Hitomi called her, a British woman whose cold attitude Hitomi found repulsive, but also scared her, it was like Christie was a monster in human form only waiting to be unleashed and God have mercy on us all when that time came. Christie turned her head and looked at Helena as she entered, Helena looked up and their eyes met. For a moment there was surprise and terror in Helenas eyes, then her expression turned hateful and she returned to her book, clearly enraged. Christie seemed as emotionless as always, she continued down the aisle and found herself a seat. Hitomi wondered at what she had just seen, in the last tournament Christie had been Helenas servant, so why did they now seem to hate each other? Hitomi paid no further attention to that but continued to look around and saw a woman that was new to her, a darkskinned woman with short hair also sitting by herself and reading a book. "Must be a new contestant." Hitomi thought to herself. Then she realised something. She turned to Lei Fang who was in the middle of an air guitar solo that would make Jimi Hendrix proud.

"Lei! Lei!"

Lei Fang stopped her wild solo and took off her headphones.

"What is it?"

"Look around you!"

Lei Fang rose from her seat and looked around, but didn´t see anything unusual and sat down again.

"I don´t see anything."

"They´re all women!"

Lei Fangs brow furrowed. She then rose again and looked around.

"Yeah, you´re right! Why is that?"

Hitomi shrugged.

"Maybe the men are getting on a different flight."

"Why would they split us up?"

"I don´t know, but what else could it be?"

Lei Fang thought about that for a moment, but couldn´t think of a better explanation and sat down again.

"Yeah, that must be it."

Just then the seatbelt sign came on and Hitomi thought no further of it.

"Watch out, boys, here I come!" Tina shouted as she stood in the open plane door, arms stretched out greeting the island. Hitomi and Lei Fang smiled at each other and shook their heads, then followed as Tina descended the stairway. Hitomi gasped and fanned herself with a hand, why had she put on the jeans and jacket outfit when she knew she was heading for a tropical island? At least Lei Fang had been somewhat more sensible and put on something light. A welcoming party was there to greet them, it consisted of what looked like hotel staff, all women, and a woman with short platinumblonde hair who seemed to be the leader of the staff. Once all the passengers had arrived the woman began her speech.

"First of all I´d like to welcome you all to Zack Island! My name is Nikita and I´m in charge of the tournament. Mr. Zack, the owner, will not be here during the matches, but will show up during the evenings to evaluate your performances and reward you accordingly. Now, before I give you your hotelroom keys I´d like to establish a few things. First of all, the tournament will not be a martial arts tournament, it will be a beach volleyball tournament…"

A gasp went through the assembled passengers.

"What?"

"Nani?"

"Huh?"

"You´ve gotta be kidding!"

Nikita silenced them with a gesture.

"That´s the way it´s going to be! Now, you will be playing in teams with two players on each team, you form the teams yourselves and you can change partners during the tournament, it´s the team that wins the tournament that wins the prize. Winning a game earns your team a monetary prize that can only be spent on the island, either in the stores or at the casino. The tournament will start tomorrow, you will be called to the playing court when a game starts, but the rest of the time you are free to explore and have fun. Any questions?"

"This is ridiculous!" Helena snorted.

"I demand to be flown back to France!"

Nikita was unaffected by Helenas request.

"First of all, this is the only flight to and from Zack Island and it won´t take off until the tournament is over. Second, I know about your deal with Donovan, you fight in the Dead or Alive tournaments and in return get access to files about your mothers death. Well, this is a Dead or Alive tournament and the deal´s valid."

Helena didn´t seem to know how to respond, but she accepted the situation. The other passengers were arguing and discussing with Nikita and each other. Lei Fang nudged Hitomi.

"We´re gonna be a team, right?"

Hitomi smiled and nodded.

The other passengers finally seemed to accept their situation, though reluctantly. Tina seemed most happy about it.

"Well, as long as I get to try on my new bikini and pick up some cute guys, I´m perfectly happy!"

Nikita and the staff threw each other an amused glance. Tina looked at them puzzled.

"What?"

Hitomi threw her suitcase down on the bed. She had a double room all to herself, and quite a luxurious one. It wasn´t a five-star hotel, but quite nice nonetheless. She unstrapped her backpack and was about to open it when Lei Fang came in through the door.

"Lei!"

"Hi, Hitomi! I´ve had it arranged so that we share rooms!"

Hitomi couldn´t believe it. Sharing a room with Lei Fang! She wanted to scream and jump with joy, but again hid her feelings.

"Really? That´s great!"

"Hey, we´re partners, right?" Lei Fang winked and went past her into the other bedroom.

"Wow, this place looks great!" Lei Fang popped her head into view.

"Hey, Hitomi, get yourself in a bikini and let´s go take a dip in the pool!"

"Okay." Hitomi nodded. She took out her red floral-patterned bikini and put it on the bed and started undressing. She was down to her panties when she saw a full-figure mirror on the wall. Hitomi stood in front of it and looked at herself. She wasn´t too bad-looking in her opinion, she had a nice figure and a welltrained body, she still had the body of a developing teenager, but she was well on her way to become a full-grown woman. She knew she was pretty, bordering on beautiful, and that she was envied by many of her female classmates, but that didn´t matter to her, what mattered to her was if Lei Fang thought she was beautiful.

"Hey, Hitomi! You ready?" said Lei Fang as she came into the room wearing a red bikini. Hitomi lost her breath at seeing her, she looked so beautiful in that bikini, and also Hitomi had never seen so much of her body before.

"Oooh, admiring ourselves, are we?" Lei Fang smiled and moved behind Hitomi. Hitomi gasped inside as Lei Fang put her arms around her stomach and laid her head on Hitomis shoulder, looking past her into the mirror.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the prettiest of all?" Lei Fang said with a laugh. Hitomi smiled, she was in a blissful daze from being held by Lei Fang.

"Mmmm, you´re so pretty, Hitomi."

Hitomis heart skipped a beat, she could hardly believe her ears.

"You think?"

"Mmm. You must be wading through suitors back home with a body like that…and tits like these!" Lei Fang grinned and grabbed Hitomis breasts and shook them playfully. Hitomi gasped and laughed with surprise and shyness, trying to pry her hands off.

"Lei!"

Lei Fang laughed and left her.

"I´ll wait for you at the pool. Hurry up!" she said and left the room.

"`Kay!" Hitomi replied. She stood by the mirror a little dazed after what had happened, her breasts felt hot after Lei Fang had grabbed them and a little juice seeped out from her pussy into her panties. Hitomi took a moment to enjoy the blissful state she was in, then she took off her panties and changed into her bikini.

"Cannonball!"

Tina ran past Hitomi and dove into the pool, the splash nearly hitting Hitomi who let out a cheerful cry as she covered herself. Tina was wearing a Stars-and-Stripes bikini ("makes every American male stand up for his country!" she had explained to Hitomi with a wink, Hitomi blushing furiously once she had realized what she had meant) and was obviously having the time of her life, even after her Oscar-worthy reaction to being told there weren´t any men on the island at all. Kasumi had seemed very relieved by that fact and had really lightened up while on the island, as if she had a moments peace for the first time in ages. Ayane on the other hand had been furious when she had learned Hayate wouldn´t be there, Hitomi had wondered at that, she had never heard Hayate mention Ayane, and she couldn´t really see how Hayate could be related to such an unpleasant character. But Hitomi decided not to waste time thinking about that, right now they were supposed to relax and have fun, and that was what she intended to do. She was stretched out on a beachchair watching the other guests as they lounged around the pool, Lei Fang was doing her Tai Chi routine by the poolside and Hitomi watched her with a loving expression, she was so graceful. Hitomi then saw Christie enter the pool area wearing a blue thong bikini, as she passed by the waitress, a 19-year old girl with brown hair, the waitress turned her head and watched her walk by with a dreamy expression on her face, thereby tripping over Kasumis beachchair and dropping her tray and drinks. The ever friendly Kasumi was already there to help her pick up the tray and take care of the broken glasses. Hitomi smiled to herself at the scene she had just witnessed. "Guess I´m not the only lesbian on this island." she thought, then returned her gaze to Lei Fang just as she was walking up to her with a bottle of sunblock in her hand.

"Hey, Hitomi, want me to put sunblock on you?"

Hitomi blinked, had she heard right? Sure she wanted her to put sunblock on her!

"Okay."

Hitomi moved onto her stomach and Lei Fang poured a small portion into her hand and sat down next to her.

"I´ll just have to take this off first." she said and untied Hitomis bikinitop. Hitomi was about to protest, but then remembered that there weren´t any guys on the island and let her do it. It felt kind of daring being topless in a public place, even though she was on her stomach, then she felt Lei Fangs hands start to oil her up and she got lost in a daze. Lei Fang was oiling her and massaging her at the same time and it felt almost like she was caressing her, Hitomi was loving every minute of it. She laid there feeling Lei Fang work on her back first, getting close to her buttocks ("Please do them as well!" Hitomi begged inside herself, but she had no such luck) before starting on her legs, oiling them from the toes and up to the thighs. When Lei Fang started working on her inner thighs Hitomi couldn´t stand it anymore, she was getting lightheaded and she could feel her pussy leaking into her bikinibottom. Then it was over and Lei Fang sat up again.